iShares MSCI South Africa ETF
$66.61−2.54 (−3.67%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.59%
- Fund size
- $546M
- 1Y return
- +19.3%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 7.30%
- Holdings
- 27
- Volume · 30D
- 0.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $68.23
- 52W range
The ETF.net EZA Grade
Score 60 of 100 sits in the B band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.CScore 50Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 69Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 39Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 78Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 69Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 76Category rank
Our read on EZA
BSince 2003, the plain US-listed way to own the Johannesburg market: about 27 large and mid-cap South African stocks, with index caps keeping any one corporate group from taking over the portfolio.
The fund seeks to track an index made up of South African equities.
Why people hold it
- Listed since 2003, it is the long-running US-listed pure play on South African equities: one ticker instead of a pile of Johannesburg listings and ADRs.ishares.com
- The 25/50 index rules cap any single company group at 25% of the index and hold all 5%-plus groups to 50% combined, so no one Johannesburg giant can swallow the fund.msci.commsci.com
- The index targets the large and mid-cap core of the market, roughly 85% of South Africa's free-float value. You get the country's benchmark, not a stock picker's guess.msci.com
- At 0.59% the fee sits right at the median for single-country emerging-market ETFs, and the fund stands among the stronger implementations in that group.
Worth knowing
- Around 27 holdings, with miners and financials doing most of the work. Concentration is the whole point of a single-country fund, and it cuts both ways.ishares.com
- The stocks trade in rand, the fund reports in dollars. Currency moves ride along with the share prices, in both directions.ishares.com
- 0.59% is normal for a single-country fund but well above broad emerging-market index funds, and cash comes back once or twice a year, not quarterly.
EZA Holdings
- Stocks
- 27
- 64%
- ANG.JO
Sectors
- Materials41.2%
- Financials33.2%
- Consumer Discr.12.1%
- Communication6.5%
- Cons. Staples2.7%
- Real Estate1.7%
- Industrials1.5%
- Health Care1.1%
Geography
- South Africa84.18%
- United States12.85%
- Netherlands1.71%
- Luxembourg1.26%
Developed 3% · Emerging 97%
EZA Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | EZA |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +2.6% |
| 1 month | −4.6% |
| 3 months | +6.2% |
| 1 year | +19.3% |
| 3 years | +28.2% |
| 5 years | +13.3% |
| 10 years | +7.8% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | EZA |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +2.6% | |
| 2025 | +75.2% | |
| 2024 | +7.3% | |
| 2023 | +1.5% | |
| 2022 | −5.1% | |
| 2021 | +7.9% | |
| 2020 | −5.2% |
EZA in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on EZA yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
EZA Dividends
- 7.30%
- $5.05
- $1.43 per share
- Twice a year
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 15, 2026 | Jun 22, 2026 | $1.43 |
| Dec 16, 2025 | Dec 22, 2025 | $3.61 |
| Jun 16, 2025 | Jun 23, 2025 | $0.63 |
| Dec 17, 2024 | Dec 20, 2024 | $2.42 |
| Jun 11, 2024 | Jun 17, 2024 | $0.63 |
| Dec 20, 2023 | Dec 27, 2023 | $0.51 |
| Jun 7, 2023 | Jun 13, 2023 | $0.68 |
| Dec 13, 2022 | Dec 19, 2022 | $0.66 |
| Jun 9, 2022 | Jun 15, 2022 | $1.00 |
| Dec 13, 2021 | Dec 17, 2021 | $0.46 |
| Jun 10, 2021 | Jun 16, 2021 | $0.49 |
| Dec 14, 2020 | Dec 18, 2020 | $1.77 |
EZA Risk
- 21.3%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 1.09
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −34.9%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.12
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
EZA Cost
- The middle half of Emerging Markets Single Country funds
- Median 0.59%
6 of the 21 Emerging Markets Single Country funds charge less.